Hands Can

by Cheryl Willis Hudson, John-Francis Bourke (Photographer)

Hands can do all kinds of things! A rhyming text with eye-catching color photos offers just the encouragement young children need to explore their world — hands on.

Hands can hold things.
Hands can mold things. 
Hands can catch
and hands can throw.

Hands can do much more, of course — wave hello and goodbye, play peekaboo, touch things, clap, even tie a shoe. For the very young, hands are a never-ending source of discovery and a means of mastery in an ever-unfolding world. With singsong rhythm, simple design, and alluring color photos of toddlers, Hands Can invites the littlest readers to discover the many things hands can do.

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Childrens, Photography, Spanish Literature, Nonfiction, Bodies

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2003

About the author

Cheryl Willis Hudson is vice president and editorial director of Just Us Books, an independent publisher of black-interest books for children and young adults. She has written many books for children, and lives in New Jersey.

Reviews

[Jessica M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book for teaching our budding toddler about all the things he can do with his hands. We love that this one has real photos of children, and there is variety in the activities that are presented in its pages.

[Maeve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book showing all of the things that hands can do.

Great photographs with a diverse group of children.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful book for toddlers and preschoolers. Hudson uses photos and simple text to show all the things hands can do.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

The letter of the day was "C," so one of the things we talked about was the word "can." What does "can" mean? The toddlers followed along by doing what the kids in the pictures were doing (waving hello, reaching high and reaching low, clapping, playing peek-a-boo, etc.). I love this book because of all the diverse children reflected in the photographs! Kids and babies love seeing pictures of real kids (babies are especially fascinated by them), so even though this is an older book (2003), it is still entertaining, relevant and worthwhile to kids today.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discover all the things hands can do in the book Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson. Kids ages 2 - 5 will love the vibrantly colored photos of children using their hands to explore the world around them. This is the perfect book to read before a busy day or before bed to talk about all the things your child can do in a day. Perfect for Toddler Times or Music and Movement classes at the library.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but not my favorite of the photography-based board books, but I would defer to those who have tots and see what they think. Most of the children in the book are probably 2-5 years old so if your child is into the baby-faces type books this might be a bit old for them yet. Some of things the "hands can do" (tie a shoe, catch a ball with older kids, wave or peek-a-boo with littler tots).

[Liz Perna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My baby loved looking at the pictures of kids in this book. As I am reading it to her, there is a lot in the picture to explain, and she enjoys all the talking about what we are seeing on the page. I will definitely rent this book again when she is a little older.

[Annie Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite, but the babies/toddlers enjoyed it.

[Kary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books with real photos of babies and children are always a hit! Great for baby/toddler storytime about body parts.

[Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the real life pictures in this books, but the story didn't flow as well as I expected it to.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

toddler storytime; read-aloud; lapsit; photographs; body parts

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photography

[Laurie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for baby/toddler storytime! The kids loved participating, doing all the things hands can do!

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photos for this rhyming board book.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The giant version of this book is perfect for a story time for tiny ones!

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple rhyming text and bold photographs of children using their hands in everyday ways makes this a good book for toddler story times.

[Sarena Davison-Rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that helps young children discover the various things they can do with their hands.

[Roben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this will be a big hit with our toddlers this summer!

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photographs are nice. Good for one year olds.

[Colorado Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I would use this book and the baby storytime and do it along side the hands are clapping rhyme hands are clapping clapping clapping hands are clapping now they stop. Great pictures.

[Jessica F]

Tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

[Olivia K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for infants!

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, dare I say it, a nearly perfect toddler storytime book. I love the interactive elements and dialogic reading as well as the diverse range of children shown in the pictures!

[SamSamSam · Rating 5 out of 5]

SING, print motivation

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luci (age 2) would give this five stars, I would guess. She requested we read it again multiple times after finishing.

[Sawy-o · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for starting off Baby Storytimes

[Shandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun storytime book about all the things hands can do, featuring some sweet photography of various little kiddos. :)

[Haylee Blystone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this one. I love picture books that use real photos

[Brady]

Kindergarten

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this big children's book, children learn about all of the things that hands can do! This is a great story for introducing High Frequency Words and for use as a choral reading. I have read this story with my kindergarten class and they were able to identify several high frequency words, and then they practiced reading the story with a buddy to build tracking and story telling skills.